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A5
news
Wednesday, September 4, 2013 www.guardian.co.tt Guardian
The murder toll climbed to 255
with the deaths of two men in San
Juan and Laventille on Tuesday
night.
Hugh Will Sergeant, 56, of
Thompson Lane, Tunapuna, was
killed in San Juan, while Maurice
Emmanuel, 27, of Boxhill Trace was
found dead in Laventille.
A report said around 7.20 pm,
Sergeant was changing a flat tyre
at Bagatelle Road, San Juan, when
a man walked up and fired several
shots at him.
He was wounded and taken to
the Port-of-Spain General Hospital
where he was pronounced dead on
arrival.
In the second incident, police
said around 8.30 pm, residents of
Sapodilla Trace heard several loud
explosions.
Officers from the Inter Agency
Task Force responded and saw
Emmanuel s body on the ground.
Homicide officers are continuing
investigations.
Meanwhile, police are trying to
find out the identity of the body
of a man found in Point Fortin yes-
terday morning. The victim had
been shot.
Workers cutting grass along the
Petrotrin pipeline, Oil Field Road,
Point Fortin, found the body.
It is that of an African male, said
to be five feet, eight inches in height,
approximately 145 pounds, and has
WO3" tattooed on the left wrist,
a pair of gold chai the initials "MJ."
At the time of death, the man
was wearing black jeans, grey and
white long-sleeved jersey, blue boxer
shorts, grey socks and orange and
white Air Max sneakers.
Anyone with information leading
to the identification of the body is
asked to contact ASP Basdeo of the
Point Fortin police.
Senior Supt Cyril Harry of the
Homicide division is investigat-
ing.
GEISHA KOWLESSAR
The Defence Force has said
warning shots fired by soldiers
during Monday s protest action
by Beetham Gardens residents
were necessary to disperse the
crowd and to ensure there was
no damage to property or peo-
ple.
That was the response from
civil military affairs officer of the
Defence Force, Major Al Alexan-
der, yesterday after video footage
showed the residents scampering
when soldiers fired shots.
On Monday residents vented
their anger over the killing of
Beetham Gardens resident
Christopher Greaves, insisting he
was shot in the back by police
as he left a shop with a soft
drink.
They blocked the Beetham
Highway causing a traffic jam for
several hours on the day the
new school term opened.
Video footage also showed sev-
eral residents hurling objects at
the soldiers before the shots were
fired.
Saying he had seen the video,
Alexander added: "First of all the
soldiers did not shoot at anyone
or fired at anyone. They fired
warning shots in the air to dis-
perse the crowd to bring about
some level of calm and civility.
"If you look at the video you
would see the crowd right up on
the soldiers... coming closer and
closer. The situation was clearly
escalating ,so at that stage it
became necessary to fire the
warning shots. No one was hurt
and nothing was damaged."
Alexander said apart from the
missiles thrown at the soldiers
there were also unconfirmed
reports that the soldiers were
shot at ,which could also have
prompted the warning shots to
be fired.
On what was the specific role
and who was in charge of the
soldiers at Beetham Gardens on
Monday, Alexander said they
were there in support of the
police, who were in command.
"Our role is more of a sup-
portive role, and the police have
the lead role. Our role is always
to aid the civil power, which the
police would play."
But Alexander said the soldiers
were not necessarily answerable
to the police.
"While we lend key assistance
to the police in the form of
patrols and so on ,the Defence
Force has its own internal com-
mand and procedures. If, for
instance, a soldier shoots some-
one, then that person will have
to appear before a board of
inquiry in the Defence Force.
"So it s not to say the police
are responsible for us. We have
our own systems to work with"
Asked who would have given
the command to fire the warning
shots, Alexander said he was
unsure, adding: "The soldiers
would have been given that order,
because they would not have
acted on their own."
Apart from armed soldiers, the
Defence Force also deployed its
own riot team at Beetham Gar-
dens on Monday to support the
police.
"We have our own riot team,
with shields, and members were
in the front and at the back of
the police at all times, as another
measure of support," Alexander
added.
The video also showed the
police throwing tear gas to dis-
perse the crowd. That measure
also was backed by the Police
Service Social and Welfare Asso-
ciation, which said the officers
responded appropriately to the
situation.
Commenting yesterday, the
association s secretary, acting
Insp Michael Seales, said: "We
are concerned about the welfare
of our officers. They responded
accordingly to the situation and
used the necessary method,
because the situation was more
than that of a crowd---it was a
riot.
"There was an officer with a
tear-gas canister in his hand, but
another officer told him to hold
his hand. It was only when stones
and bottles were thrown at the
shields of the lawmen was the
tear gas thrown to bring control."
Seales said while the police
respected the right to protest,
law-abiding citizens must not
suffer as a result.
He said several drivers using
the Beetham Highway on Mon-
day expressed concern to the
police that they were afraid to
use the route, fearing their lives
and those of their children were
in danger.
Defence Force on Beetham Gardens protests:
Warning shots
were necessary RICHARD LORD
President of the National Infra-
structure Development Company
(Nidco) Dr Carson Charles says
the Debe to Mon Desir segment
of the Solomon Hochoy Highway
extension to Point Fortin will be
constructed, despite the sustained
protest of environmentalist Dr
Wayne Kublalsingh and his High-
way Re-Route Movement (HRM)
Kublalsingh and the movement
have been protesting outside the
Office of the Prime Minister, St
Clair, for the past several days in
a last-ditch attempt to have the
segment of the highway re-routed
for environmental reasons.
In an interview yesterday, Charles
said: "No undertaking was ever
given by the Prime Minister or
Nidco to stop the project. Nobody
ever gave that undertaking."
He said last December, after
Kublalsingh staged a 21-day hunger
strike outside the PM s office, it
was agreed that a special committee
should be set up to review the doc-
umentation for the project. That
committee was chaired by Dr James
Armstrong, who was then an Inde-
pendent Senator.
Charles said even when that
agreement was reached no under-
taking was given to stop work on
the disputed segment of the high-
way. He said the agreement pro-
vided for no work to begin in new
areas, but work never stopped on
the Debe to Mon Desir segment.
Charles added: "We can t stop
it for Kublalsingh and his group
because they didn t want the high-
way to be built on that route."
A former works minister, he said
billions of dollars of state resources
were being invested in the high-
way.
In recent weeks, Kublalsingh met
with Prime Minister Kamla Per-
sad-Bissessar, President Anthony
Carmona and Opposition Leader
Dr Keith Rowley with a view to
having the project re-routed.
After those meetings the situa-
tion remained unchanged as no
assurance was given that the project
would be re-routed.
Charles said after looking at the
report of the Highway Review
Committee, Nidco s transport con-
sultant, whom he did not name,
said Kublalsingh s proposal "would
not solve the transportation prob-
lems in that area, and the Nidco
project was the most appropriate."
The HRM has threatened to take
legal action to get a court injunction
to temporarily stop the project.
Kublalsingh and others have
vowed to do whatever was neces-
sary to ensure the controversial
segment of the highway was re-
routed.
The Golconda to Debe segment
of the highway was opened late last
month.
Nidco: We
won't bow to
Kublalsingh
Two murders in San Juan and Laventille
Police keep watch on a Cepep crew clearing
garbage on the Beetham Highway after
Monday's protests in which residents
blocked the highway with debris and
confronted police over the shooting death
on Sunday of Christopher Greaves. PHOTO:
NICOLE DRAYTON.